Bythewood has helmed the films Love & Basketball, TheSecret Life of Bees and Beyond the Lights. Nevins is the president of HBO’s documentary division. In addition to overseeing Women in Film, Schulman serves as the President of Mandalay Pictures.

“We are thrilled to reveal the women we are honoring at this year’s festival, and look forward to announcing the full slate right after the new year,” commented Melissa Silverstein, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Athena Film Festival and founder of the blog you’re reading right now. “As a festival we continue raise the visibility of accomplished women in the industry and create a four day celebration of work that highlights women’s leadership in ways that are courageous and thought-provoking.”

Athena will take place at Barnard College in Manhattan and run on February 5-8.

Early bird passes for the festival are now available online. Individual ticket sales and the announcement of the lineup will take place in early January 2015. Please visit http://www.athenafilmfestival.com for regular updates, announcements and to purchase passes.